1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cleaning device and more particularly to a device for cleaning materials attached to a vessel and a building structure below water level, such as marine life, e.g. seaweed or shell and contaminants, e.g. oil and the like materials.
2. Prior Art
It has been a most conventional method to remove materials attached to a vessel and a building structure manually by a diver using a scraper. This method is, however, not efficient so that it is not practically applicable to a large vessel and the like.
In order to overcome such a drawback, various cleaning devices have been devised. The simplest of these devices is a cleaner of the type which comprises a motor and a rotatable brush and in operation a diver presses the cleaner onto a surface to be cleaned up. Although this cleaner is of light weight, it has disadvantage in that considerable labor is required for a diver to press it onto a cleaning surface. To avoid such a labor a cleaning apparatus has been devised in which caterpillars or wheels made of magnet are mounted on a body to thereby render the device absorbed onto a cleaning surface. This type of cleaner, however, weighs too much due to the use of magnet, and hence it is difficult to operate it. As another type of cleaner there has been a cleaning apparatus which comprises a body having wheels or caterpillars, said body having a rotatable brush and a separate impeller means for making the body absorbed onto a cleaning surface. Since this cleaner comprises caterpillars or wheels, a rotatable brush, impeller means and motors for driving these components, not only this apparatus is too heavy but also too large-sized to easily control and operate it. Furthermore, any type of the conventional cleaners simply remove and scatter materials as attached to the vessel and the like, thus from the standpoint of water pollution they are not preferred.